Belmonte v. Lawson

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ELLIS, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on plaintiffs’ appeal from the Magistrate’s Order denying plaintiffs’ motion to compel and granting defendant Williams’ request for a protective order against the taking of any discovery in derogation of defendant’s Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The specific question presented is whether a party may invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege where, as here, the statute of limitations has run on any possible state criminal prosecution and the federal prosecutor, by affidavit, avers that there is no…